A soft knock rang at her door. She was too engrossed in her thoughts to even look up. Andy softy opened the door and leaned against the frame. "Sharon," he whispered softly, not wanting to startle her. Still, she didn't look up from the pictures that were scattered across her desk.

Andy knew this case had been tough on her. It had been tough on all of them, actually. For Sharon, however, it struck a deep, personal chord.

It all began yesterday morning, when a woman came frantically running into the Major Crimes division, insisting to see Sharon. She was shocked, immediately pulling the woman into her office and shutting the blinds before asking her why she was there. The woman was an old friend of Sharon's, the mother of one of Emily's ballet classmates. Her daughter had been killed tragically in a car accident two years ago, but the two women still kept in touch. They had known each other for years, and her daughter's funeral was the only time that Sharon had seen the woman so upset.

"Carol, what's wrong," Sharon asked, resting a comforting hand on the woman's shoulder.

"Becca," she managed through a strangled sob, "She's missing."

"Okay," Sharon nodded slowly, taking in the Carol's appearance. Her bag was loosely dangling from her arm, her face red with fear and anger and guilt, and her eyes burning with the tears flowing freely down her cheek. "When was the last time you saw her," Sharon walked to sit them both down in the chairs that faced her desk.

"This morning, when I dropped her off at ballet. I had to run a few errands while she was there, and when I got back, she was nowhere to be seen. If I wasn't there, she knew not to go anywhere with anyone. I don't know what happened," she paused to take a deep breath and wipe at her cheeks.

"She went to the same ballet studio as our girls?" Sharon asked. Carol nodded, looking down at the floor.

"I asked what had happened, but her instructor said that one minute she was there and the next she was gone. Nobody saw a thing."

"Okay," Sharon said, leaning forward to grab the woman's hands. "I want you to go home. Take a shower. Keep your phone close by. If anybody calls, you let me know right away. I'll be sending a few detectives over to take a look around and grab a few of Becca's things."

Carol nodded, slowly standing up and walking towards the door before stopping. "Sharon" she said, turning to face her, "You'll find her?"

"Yes," she nodded, giving a sad smile, "We will find her." Carol turned again and made her way out the door, past the questioning looks of the lieutenants and detectives sitting out in the murder room. Sharon knew the minute she said those words that they would be true, but that sadly, it might not be the outcome that either Carol or Sharon were hoping for. She'd been in this business too long to expect happy endings anymore.

Sharon took a deep breath before heading out to face her colleagues and inform them of their new case. She glanced over to Andy's desk to see him already staring at her with worried eyes. Regaining her composure, she walked out the door and into the middle of the murder room.

"Okay, everyone, we have a critical missing on her hands. The child's name is Rebecca Hannigan. Four years old. Red hair, blue eyes. Lieutenant Provenza, Amy, please go to the grandmother's house and see if you can find anything we can use for this case, especially something for the dogs to get her scent. I'll text you her address right away. Mike, Julio, take Buzz with you to the ballet studio where Rebecca was last seen. See if you can get any security footage we can use. It's on the corner of Lattimer and Greenwald. Andy, stay with me and help organize a field search. We will need patrol out in at least a five mile radius, and I want traffic stops set up throughout the city to search for this little girl. We need to find her, and we need to find her quickly," Sharon managed, sighing as she stared at the board ahead of her.

"Uh, Captain," Provenza spoke up. Sharon looked at him with sad, heavy eyes. She was expecting some long, involved question that she really didn't have the time to answer right now.

"Yes, Lieutenant?"

"Let us know if you need anything else." Sharon nodded and watched as he and the rest of the team, with the exception of Andy, gathered their things and left.

"You okay," Andy asked, standing up and gently placing a hand on her arm.

"We need to find that little girl, Andy."

Sharon looked up from her desk, but she still hadn't acknowledged Andy. Her face was puffy and red, evidence that she had been crying, and her bottom lip was sucked between her teeth. Andy watched her as her shoulder heaved up and down in a steady rhythm as she tried to calm her breathing. He slowly walked over to her desk, sat down in the chair opposite of her, and covered her hands with his own. "I'm sorry, Sharon."

"It always has to happen like this," Sharon spoke with a cracking voice, "No matter how hard we try, no matter what we do, we can never seem to save them anymore." A single tear dropped onto Andy's hand. He looked down at it and then back up to Sharon. This time, she was staring at their hands. He rubbed gentle circles on her wrist, trying to calm her.

"There was nothing we could have done," he whispered, hating how the words sounded. They were true, though. The minute that girl went missing, the minute that man came for her, there was no hope. "That man was a monster. Becca, she didn't deserve any of that. None of them do, Sharon. The thing is, we stopped him. We stopped him from doing anything to anyone else."

"Its not enough," she said, finally looking up at him. "What does that do for Carol? What does that do for the previous victims and their families?"

"Nothing, Sharon. It never does do anything. We've learned that. We've also learned to accept that when we arrest and put away these creeps, we aren't really giving any justice to the victims that will never see their families again. We are only stopping future crimes from happening. Its not right, but sometimes we have to accept it," he leaned forward, and lifted her chin with his finger so that she was finally looking him directly in the eyes, "Its not easy. Its not going to be," he lowered his hand so that is was resting atop hers once more, "Are you going to be okay?"

Sharon looked down at their hands, the way his thumb curled around her wrist just gently enough to provide a comforting touch. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"No," she shook her head, "I'm not, not tonight, anyway. Maybe not even tomorrow."

"Oh," Andy sighed, not knowing what else to say.

"Can I go home with you?" Sharon asked shyly, "Please?"

"Sharon, I don't know if," Andy was ready to protest, she could tell. Ready to tell her that she shouldn't be making these kinds of decisions after such a difficult case.

"Just to sleep, Andy. Please? I want you fall asleep with you tonight." Andy smiled softly and nodded, giving her hands a squeeze.

"Fine."